Aon survey: falling employee engagement in Canada is a “wake-up call” for employers

Employee uncertainty created by changing work environment a significant challenge to employers

TORONTO, March 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Employee engagement declined slightly in Canada against the global trend identified based on opinions from more than five million employees around the world, according to a new report from Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. While overall engagement in Canada remains above the global average, Aon’s analysis points to workplace disruption – driven by new technologies and new ways of doing business – as a driver of uncertainty and stress for Canadian employees, adversely impacting engagement.

Quotes:“The good news is that overall engagement in Canada is still high relative to the rest of the world, but these findings are a wake-up call for Canadian employers,” said Todd Mathers, Partner, Talent, Rewards and Performance, Aon Canada.

“Organizations are investing in new technologies and processes to drive the efficiencies they need to remain competitive, and that is changing the nature of work for many employees,” Mathers added. “Employee perception scores in Enabling Infrastructure, Collaboration and Work Tasks all declined, suggesting employees are struggling to understand and make the changes needed to work effectively in an evolving environment. The uncertainty is contributing to job stress, longer hours, and a corresponding drag on employee perceptions of Work/Life Balance.

“The message is clear: as employers invest in IT and operations, they can only realize full value from those changes if they ensure that employees are effectively trained and supported through the transition, and that employees understand what they need to do differently to be effective and why.”

Key facts:

While engagement improved globally, to 65% from 63% in 2016, Canada saw a marginal decrease, to 69% from 70%. Despite the decline, Canadian engagement remains four percentage points higher than the global average, and five percentage points higher than the U.S. average.

Of the study’s 16 engagement dimensions (drivers), 11 declined for Canadian organizations, led by Enabling Infrastructure – a measure of how well practices, processes and resources help employees get work done. Perception scores among Canadian employees on Enabling Infrastructure fell by 6%, a reversal of last year’s gain of 4% and a countertrend to the global score, which improved by 2%.

Perceptions among Canadian employees improved in just three engagement dimensions: Mission/Values, Autonomy/Empowerment, and Customer Focus.

About AonAon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.